[Cuimhne]Keiko Sena, author of “Nenaiko Dareda”, is on her way to her favorite path thanks to the “best father” she found with: Tokyo Shimbun TOKYO Web

Keiko Sena, a picture book author known for books such as “Nenaiko Dareda”, has died. Here is an interview with Sena in which she talks about her family. I pray for Sena’s soul. (First published in the morning edition of Tokyo Shimbun on June 28, 2009. Age etc. at the time)

◆ My father played with me in the fields and mountains.

After working for an insurance company, my father taught statistics at a university. When she was in high school, she took voice lessons and apparently wanted to pursue music, but her parents wouldn’t let her. My grandfather was a military man. During the Edo period, he was a hatamoto, but as times changed, he became a soldier in the army, and seems to have been an adjutant to General Nogi.

Keiko Sena (2009)

My father loves to go to the mountains and ski, and when I was little he often took me to the mountains near me. He taught me songs while I was walking in the mountains. My favorite songs are classical music such as opera arias. Although we did not understand the meaning of the words, we were singing. I have three younger brothers and one younger sister, and even now, when we get together, we sing together. I am still in good health today, and that is because of my father playing in the fields and mountains.

◆ A mother who is passionate about education

My mother is passionate about education, and her philosophy is that you have to be the best in your grade at school. I was also a studio. My grandmother was a music teacher at the girls’ school and she also taught piano, so my mother made me learn piano too, but she wouldn’t give me snacks if I didn’t practice. That’s why I still hate watching piano. When I grew up, I told my mother. “At that time, if I had given him painting lessons, I would have become a pianist.” When I was little, I did not understand that my mother had no malicious intentions and was raising me with good intentions.

◆ I want to be a novelist or a painter

I love writing poems, compositions, and drawing since I was in kindergarten, and I thought I would be a novelist or an illustrator in the future. I went to a school affiliated with Ochanomizu University from elementary school to high school, and when I was in my third year of high school, I said to my mother, “I could go to an art university, but I don’t want to . to go to Ochanomizu University because I have no way to do it,” and my mother was angry. I said to myself, “I won’t need a penny after I finish school, I’ll work for myself.”

Keiko Sena (2009)

But my father did not object. Whether it’s books or drawings, I just have to go in the direction I want to go. After I graduated from high school, I continued to work as an office worker for a while, and my father would tell me that there was an exhibition going on. He was a great father and we got on very well. There were times when I would meet my dad for drinks after work.

◆I started to hate studying because of the nagging…

I never told my daughter or my son to study because I was so blocked that I started to hate studying. However, my son says, “If I didn’t study because my mom told me not to, I would be in trouble.”

When my two children were young, I created a picture book based on my own experiences of raising children. My daughter used to complain, “Mommy always uses me,” but lately she has been writing the text for my picture books. Even though you may hate it in your heart. (Interviewer: Atsushi Shigemura, photo: Dai Nakajima)

Real name: Keiko KurodaBorn in Tokyo. At the age of 19, he began studying children’s drawings under Takeo Takei. In 1969, he won the Sankei Children’s Publishing Culture Award for “Iyadai Yada no Picture Book”. Other works include the “Ghost Picture Book Series.”

at